Your business should save money wherever you can, but you also want to make a splash with marketing. Stephen Andrew Stepnaiuk explains how to do both with small business guerrilla marketing.
It’s a fact of the small business life: if you’re a small business owner, you don’t have the same kind of marketing budget as the big brands.
And between tax season and business expenses, this is the last time of year you want to spend more money.
Maybe you’ve already taken out an ad or two in the local newspaper or a local area magazine. But for the most part, traditional advertising has a price tag that you hadn’t factored in when you first applied for your small business loan.
If you’re tech savvy, you know how important social media is to businesses these days. You’re doing your best to harness all those likes and favorites.
You’re choosing to invest your time instead of your money.
But are you doing everything you can?
This is the basic idea of small business guerrilla marketing: spending time, not money.
Don’t drain your bank account on marketing. Keep reading to find out why you should be using small business guerrilla marketing instead.
What is small business guerrilla marketing?
Before you can make small business guerrilla marketing work for you, you need to understand what it is and what it isn’t.
According to Entrepreneur’s encyclopedia, guerrilla marketing is “an unconventional way of performing marketing activities on a very low budget.”
In other words, it is any marketing effort that relies upon a creative investment of time, rather than an investment of money.
In the digital age, this could mean email campaigns. But consumers have gotten so used to spamming that this may not be the most reliable way to generate attention anymore.
Instead, the most effective small business guerrilla marketing results in a marketing campaign that changes the consumers’ day to day landscape in a creative and eye-catching way.
Of course, there still may be a small upfront cost to small business guerrilla marketing. Your small business loan might give you some wiggle room — and this is an investment that will pay off in the end.
Put those creative juices to the test
Now that you know what small business guerrilla marketing is, it’s time to put pencil to paper and get going on your new marketing campaign.
Here are some ideas to jumpstart the creative process.
Read it and weep
You can achieve the same thing you would taking out an ad in your local newspaper with a busy sidewalk corner.
The best small business guerrilla marketing approach is simple, safe, and effective. Hint: it’s a throwback to your childhood.
You can make a custom stencil and then use a chalk rubbing technique to leave a — temporary — mark on the local area.
Another idea in this vein is to find a dirty wall in the public space or a spot on the sidewalk and use your stencil to pressure wash through the grime. This lasts longer than chalk, but still not permanent.
Stick it to ’em
Stickers are a great way to catch attention. They can be strategically placed in public areas by your team. You can also hand them out to customers and potential customers to spread the word.
Images have become more important than ever in the age of Instagram and selfies. Stickers can capitalize on this trend, as can an old school projector.
If you can find a large wall in an area that gets lots of foot traffic at night, you can set up a projector as part of your small business guerrilla marketing efforts.
Get everyone involved
It’s a lot harder to overlook a campaign that people are literally in the middle of. So take your marketing to your potential customers and get them involved.
A flash mob is a fun and interactive way to catch people’s attention.
Contact local theater students to help you stage your flash mob. Be sure to pick a central place that you know is going to be full of your target customers. Malls and downtown areas are great places to target.
In the middle of the flash mob, everyone can take off their jackets to reveal t-shirts with your brand on the front.
You can also try to create a “shareable spot,” something that people will be eager to share on social media.
For example, if you sell lip balm, you can create a kissing spot — use the above chalk or power washing techniques! And add your own hashtag for good measure.
Games can also be successful in getting people involved, as was demonstrated when businesses began to use Pokemon Go hotspots to attract people to their location.
Create your own game by planting clues to a scavenger hunt or leaving notes for a free gift if the customer returns it to your business location.
Bonus points: By getting the public involved in your small business guerrilla marketing, you’re increasing the likelihood of being shared on social media. This can quickly increase the number of people your campaign reaches.
Right and wrong in small business guerrilla marketing
There is a fine line you need to tread when considering small business guerrilla marketing. Many of the techniques that guerrilla marketing relies upon can be considered graffiti, which brings up the question of legality.
The last thing you want is for your marketing to backfire and land you with a stack of legal fees — and the negative association that your business will earn from the public.
To avoid this, be sure that you have permission to run your campaign in the location you choose and opt for semi-permanent options, such as chalk instead of spray paint.
Of course, the benefit of small business guerrilla marketing is the freedom it gives you to be creative.
However, this also means that there is no guarantee that your campaign is going to be successful.
You can’t always predict how your small business guerrilla marketing campaign is going to be received, but by knowing the ins and outs of guerrilla marketing, you’ll be well on your way to earning your business new customers — and saving some cash in the process.